Australia Thumps West Indies In ODI Opener

The West Indies didn’t put up much of a fight in the ODI opener.

The Australian One Day International side made short work of the visiting West Indies on Friday night at the WACA in Perth, cruising to an easy win behind a woeful performance from the visitors.

Darren Sammy and the West Indies were dismissed for a paltry total of 70 as Mitchell Starc amassed a brilliant 5-20 with the ball, helping the tourists to the third-lowest score in ODI history.

It didn’t end there- Glenn Maxwell put on a ridiculous showing with the bat, reaching a very quick half-century.

Maxwell took to the crease with the recently promoted Aaron Finch before absolutely abusing Kemar Roach in the first over, smashing 18 including a six and four fours.

He amassed 39 runs in just 17 minutes before Finch became the lone Aussie batsman to fall.

Usman Khawaja entered, the replacement for injured David Warner, but he wasn’t required to do too much; Maxwell reached his half-ton in just 39 minutes, needing 34 balls. Khawaja brought up the winning runs just two balls later as Australia surpassed what was the lowest total in WACA ODI history.

Clint McKay (3-10) took the opening wicket before Starc went on his impressive run. Starc's line and length were on point and after dismissing Kieran Powell, who delivered a stroke right into the waiting hands of Michael Clarke, he went on to collect three ducks: Ramnaresh Sarwan survived just three deliveries and Darren Bravo and Kieron Pollard fell within a ball of each other.

The West Indies were at that point 5-19 and without hope of victory.

"After having a (2-2 series) draw against Sri Lanka, we knew we would have to start very well against this team," Starc said.

"The West Indies are quite a dangerous team and they've got some big names that can hurt teams.

"To win like we did today and start the series like we have, in such commanding fashion, I think that was great for us leading into the rest of the series."